The present invention relates to the automatic marketing of lollipops. More particularly, the invention provides a bendable lollipop stick, a container for the lollipop, and a method of sale for same.
Vending machines have long provided an economic method for selling small consumer articles. Presently machines are in use for selling hot and cold beverages, cigarettes, sweets, chocolates, other foods, newspapers, train tickets and many other items. The machines must reliably dispense the one item chosen by a customer after an appropriate coin, or a smart card, has been inserted into the machine. Vending machines offer their owner low labor cost, while 24-hour availability is beneficial to both owner and customer.
Before stock exhaustion, it is necessary to recharge the machine with a new supply of articles to be sold. There are three methods of loading or reloading a vending machine.
METHOD A The items to be sold, for example packets of cigarettes or bars of chocolate, are already arranged in a stack or other orderly manner and so they are easily loaded into the machine in a coherent array, e.g. a stack. The vending machine requires only a simple feed and escape mechanism to dispense a selected item in response to customer demand. The machine is not required to reorient the items to be sold.
METHOD B The articles to be sold, for example a small cube-shaped item, are poured into the machine in bulk, and the machine is provided with a feeder mechanism for orienting the item in a manner allowing reliable operation of an escape mechanism. The difficulty of automatic handling is related primarily to the shape of the article. For example, a spherical item (e.g. a chewing gum ball) is easiest for a machine to handle, as it will roll under gravity in any direction and requires only a primitive escape mechanism and requires no orientation at all. More difficult is an item shaped as a short cylinder where the length equals or is near the diameter. Some shapes, for example items that entangle with each other, e.g. open compression coil springs, horseshoe shaped items, and irregularly shaped articles such as fruit or vegetable items that may be sticky and light weight—these are difficult or almost impossible to feed in a reliable manner using method B, and are best handled after enclosure in a geometrically-shaped container of fixed compact size.
METHOD C Items which cannot be handled by the previous methods, for example wrapped confectionery food articles, baked buns, or slices of cake are manually and individually loaded into suitable receptacles provided in the machine. Individual loading is time consuming but is acceptable for high-value articles. Individual loading into the vending machine is however not an economic option for small low-cost articles.
From the point of view of the vending machine, a lollipop is a lightweight low-cost item, which may be sticky and is covered by a paper wrapping which may be of irregular configuration. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,939 Tucker discloses a lollipop dispensing apparatus using Method C. Clearly, loading such a vending machine is time consuming and the dispensing mechanism required is complex.
Method B mechanisms for dispensing lollipops are also known. Such mechanisms are very complex and expensive, obviously due to the difficulties inherent in reliably feeding an article of this shape and of low weight. There is also the possibility that the article, possibly being sticky, will cause unreliable dispensing performance.
Consumers of lollipops are likely to require temporary storage thereof for example while entering a classroom or a house of prayer. If a paper wrapping thereof was provided and is still to hand said wrapping can be used for this purpose. An attractive alternative providing compact and hygienic storage is to use the original marketing container also for compact rest rage, hereafter the lollipop in its container can be conveniently held in a pocket of a child's clothing.